Ece Abay

Artist Ece Abay’s work reflects her interest in dreamscapes, symbolism, and Greek mythology—with which she particularly identifies, being of Greek descent. Abay reinterprets collective imagery in a personal context, creating symbolic self-portraits. She has worked with monotype and intaglio, but prefers woodcut because it enables her to build thick layers of color and control the opacity and volume of her inks. By accentuating key areas, she visually leads the viewer through her symbology and achieves a organic and mysterious effect consistent with her emphasis on interior life. Her colors are emblematic of her state of mind at the time of creation, deepening her works’ emotional implications.

Like the strange, poignant, idiosyncratic visual language of Frida Kahlo, Abay’s dark, beautiful visions are inexplicably evocative. Her compositions convey a sense of flow, as if the descriptive elements are suspended in amniotic fluid, or are as ephemeral as dreams in flux.